Thrust on streamlining social security system

Bangladesh achieved its independence through the supreme sacrifices of three million people with the vision of creating an equitable society free from exploitation, poverty, hunger and deprivation. The constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh adopted just after one year of independence was based on the fundamental principles of nationalism, democracy, secularism, and socialism. It is in that spirit that social security was mentioned in the Constitution as the provision of basic necessities in Article 15. Social security was defined as public assistance in cases of undeserved want arising from unemployment, illness or disablement, or suffered by widows or orphans or in old age, or in other such cases.
Bangladesh has succeeded, against many odds, in establishing an umbrella of safety net that has solved the problem of food shortage underpinning effective response to natural disasters as well. At the same time, in partnership with NGOs and development partners, the country is internationally recognised as an accomplished innovator in large-scale livelihood promotion programmes which have demonstrably lifted lives of millions out of poverty. Hence, starting as Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) as an innovation to response food shortage, the focus of social protection now shifts from relief to development.
A COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY FOR SOCIAL PROTECTION: Social Safety Net Programmes (SSNPs) to address marginalisation, risk and vulnerability has been an integral part of the anti-poverty strategy of the present government. Distressed people, particularly women, children and the disabled have been given priority under the SSNP. The strong commitment from the government to social protection is demonstrated by the fact that in 2008-09, the allocation for social protection was US $ 2.01 billion which was 1.96 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). The allocation for social protection (SP) in 2016-17 is US $ 5.77 billion, which is 2.3 per cent of GDP -- a big jump in resource allocation to the programme.
There has been a rapid decline in the rate of poverty measured in terms of the percentage of population. The poverty incidence fell from 48.9 per cent in 2000 to 24.8 per cent in 2015. Commensurately, the percentage of chronic poor, defined as population below the lower poverty line, fell from 34.3 in 2000 to 12.9 in 2015. The government has brought 24.57 per cent of households under the benefits of SSNPs. It is estimated that the contribution of SSNPs alone in reducing poverty in 2010 was 1.5 percentage points. It is generally believed that the success of SSNPs greatly contributed to the reduction of inequality across the country from 2005 to 2010: Gini coefficient has reduced from 0.467 in 2005 to 0.458 in 2010; poverty gap has reduced from 9.8 per cent in 2005 to 7.4 per cent in 2010, and poverty severity has also been reduced from 3.1 in 2005 to 2.2 in 2010 (Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2010, BBS).   
Notwithstanding the past progress, out of 158 million population, some 39 million people were still living below the upper poverty line and 20 million people below the lower poverty line in 2015. Bangladesh's current Social Security System is complex and multifarious as there are 142 programmes under the Social Security System financed through the budget and administered by as many as 23 Ministries/Divisions. It is evident that there are weaknesses in the current processes for selecting recipients for social security schemes. There are challenges in a number of areas, viz: i) in schemes directed at poor families and individuals, a high proportion of the poorest are excluded, while others who are ineligible are included; ii) around 33 per cent of the recipients of the Old Age Allowance appears to be below the age of eligibility; iii) procedures for identifying disability need strengthening and consistent application nationwide. Another major shortcoming of the present social security system is the absence of an effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) arrangement.
The multiplicity of resultant programmes amongst a wide range of implementing agencies requires rationalisation, harmonisation and coordination. The social protection needs of an industrialised, urbanised, formalised, globalised middle-income Bangladesh are very different from those of the predominantly rural, agricultural, informal, low-income, disaster-prone past. In the coming decades, the shocks to be dealt with will be macroeconomic in nature. The problems faced will be less about famine and more about inclusive growth; and the key issues will have to do with food security and more to do with reducing inequality. Considering this backdrop, the government has approved the National Social Security Strategy (NSSS) of Bangladesh in 2015 which hopes to consolidate the on-going programmes emphasising a Life Cycle Approach and incorporate social insurance schemes as well as private voluntary pensions.
NATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY STRATEGY (NSSS) OF BANGLADESH: The long-term vision of NSSS is to build an inclusive social security system for all deserving Bangladeshis that effectively tackles and prevents poverty and inequality and contributes to broader human development, employment and economic growth. However, over the next five years, the goal for the NSSS is to reform the national social security system by ensuring more efficient and effective use of resources, strengthen delivery systems and progress towards a more inclusive form of social security that effectively tackles lifecycle risks, prioritising the poorest and most vulnerable members of society.
The NSSS benefits will be non-discriminatory and will be available to all poor and vulnerable people who satisfy the income criteria and other selection criteria relating to life-cycle or disability, irrespective of religion, ethnicity, profession and location. The five core life cycle programmes suggested by NSSS are described below:
 Programmes for Children
n A child grant for children of poor and vulnerable family up to age 4. The child grant will be limited to a maximum of two children per family.
n A school stipend for all primary and secondary school-going children belonging to the poor and vulnerable households.
n The children will also have the disability benefit, the school meals programme, the orphans programme and the legal provision to ensure that abandoned children get the financial support from the responsible parent.
n Supply side interventions relating to immunisation, childcare health and nutrition, water supply and sanitation and nutrition outreach will be strengthened.
Programmes for the Working Age
n Strengthening education and training programmes to motivate the adolescents and youth to complete education and to enable the working youth and the older workforce to acquire required skills.
n Implementing a strengthened workfare programme for the unemployed poor.
n Exploring possibilities of providing unemployment, sickness, maternity and accidental insurance as a part of a National Social Insurance Scheme (NSIS).
n The strategy advocates a consolidated income transfer under a reformed Vulnerable Women's Benefit (VWB) programme.
n Expansion of the Maternal Health Voucher Scheme (MHVS) administered by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Comprehensive Pension System for the Elderly
n Old Age Allowance for senior citizens who are aged 60 years and above and belong to the poor and vulnerable population.
n A National Social Insurance Scheme (NSIS) based on the principle of employers and employees jointly paying contribution.
n Private Voluntary Pension (PVP) open to all citizens irrespective of occupation or formality of employment.
Programmes for People with Disabilities
n A disability benefit for children with disabilities
n A disability benefit for working age population with disabilities
Apart from the life-cycle based programmes, the schemes to support the freedom fighters and their families will continue under the consolidated Freedom Fighters' Benefit Programme. The distribution of food during and after disaster will continue as a disaster management response under the management of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief. Open Market Sales (OMS), managed by the Ministry of Food, will be expanded as necessary to tackle hunger and food affordability issues as appropriate. The government has already adopted a long-term comprehensive health financing reform strategy, which will be fully implemented along with the NSSS implementation. The government's programmes to address climate change and disaster prevention will be further strengthened as a part of its broader development effort. Longer-term programmes such as the planned Delta Region Development can be of further benefit in this regard.    
    A total of 35.7 million poor and vulnerable people will benefit from the various life-cycle based programmes in FY17-18 when the NSSS is fully implemented. The suggested NSSS is fully consistent with the changing demographics. During the initial years of NSSS implementation, emphasis will be given to the extreme poor and the most vulnerable sections of the population.
    The government has initially introduced five thematic clusters for coordination and cooperation of Ministries/Divisions engaged in programme implementation, viz: (a) Social Allowances, (b) Food Security and Disaster Assistance, (c) Social Insurance, (d) Labour/livelihood intervention, and (e) Human development and Social Empowerment. During this initial consolidation and coordination phase (2015-2025), implementing ministries are now responsible for programme design, correct targeting and zero tolerance to pilferage. The Central Management Committee on Social Safety Net Programmes under the Cabinet Division will ensure inter-ministerial coordination of social security programmes. In Phase 2 from 2026 onwards, a strengthened and reformed Department of Social Services under the Ministry of Social Welfare will be responsible for implementation of all life-cycle based social security programmes.
The implementing Ministries/ Divisions will work closely with the local government institutes (LGIs) and the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the delivery of the programmes. The government will continue, and where necessary, deepen the partnership with NGOs in the area of delivering social security services based on the NSSS. The government will establish a national single registry that uses the database from the national identity system and is based on building scheme-specific management information systems (MISs) that communicate with each other and deliver comprehensive information across government. A further key reform that will be introduced is an initiative to transform the Government to Person (G2P) payment systems so that they promote financial inclusiveness and prevent leakages. Recently, the Statistics and Informatics Division (SID) has taken an endeavour to establish a Bangladesh Household Database using the performance management tool (PMT) scorecard approach which will be completed by 2017. The Ministry of Social Welfare in close consultation with SID will develop a nationwide complaints and grievance redressing mechanism.
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION (DRR) AND CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION (CCA):  Out of the on-going 142 programmes on Social Protection, 25 are directly related to disaster risk reduction (DRR) or climate change adaptation that cost around US $ 1.2 billion (around 21 per cent of the total SP protection). The programmes includes, for example, short-term or seasonal workfare programmes for the working age vulnerable people, relief goods or lump cash transfers, climate victim rehabilitation, food grain at subsidised price, particularly for the urban poor (who include a large toll of climate change and disaster victims), construction of shelter and other infrastructures for the victims of cyclones and other natural calamities, institution building and empowerment of communities to reduce disaster risks etc. Six important ministries namely, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, Ministry Food, and the Prime Minister's Office are directly involved in implementation  and management of the programmes.
Attaching highest importance to the issue of climate change, Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 was formulated. BCCSAP 2009 identified six thematic areas, namely-- (1) food security, social protection and health, (2) comprehensive disaster management, (3) infrastructure, (4) research and knowledge management, (5) mitigation and low-carbon development, and (6) capacity building and institutional strengthening. Subsequently, in the fiscal year of 2009-10, Climate Change Trust Fund (CCTF) was created by the government from its own resources to finance projects for implementation of BCCSAP 2009. The aim of these projects is to reduce the vulnerabilities caused by adverse effects of climate change. To set up institutional arrangements for management of the fund, Climate Change Trust Act, 2010 was enacted. Under the framework of this Act, Bangladesh Climate Change Trust (BCCT) was constituted.
The projects undertaken so far under CCTF include construction of embankments and river bank protective works, building cyclone-resilient houses, excavation/re-excavation of canals, construction of water control infrastructures including regulators/sluice gates, waste management and drainage infrastructure, introduction and dissemination of stress tolerant crop varieties and seeds, afforestation, installation of solar panels and so on. The government allocated around US$ 400 million to CCTF during the last seven fiscal years. As of June 2016, 440 projects have been undertaken. 377 projects are being implemented by the government, semi-government and autonomous agencies, while 63 projects are being implemented by NGOs.
ENCOURAGING FEATURES OF SOCIAL PROTECTIION: Bangladesh has long experience in implementing programmes related to social protection. The encouraging features of such programmes can be summarised as follows:
n Strong political commitment for social protection and it is evident from the government's development policy planning.
n Each year the budgetary allocation has been increasing along with the rise of the number of beneficiaries.
n Innovations and experimentations are strengths of the social protection systems in Bangladesh. From purely relief based programme, the focus is now more on the social development. From Vulnerable Group Feeding, the programme was scaled up to Food for Work and then converted to Vulnerable Group Development and later Income Generating Vulnerable Group Development Programe.
n Health, nutrition and education have been given priority where conditional cash transfer programmes are introduced.
n Geographical targeting of the social protection programme is another instrument to tackle poverty and vulnerability in some poverty pockets.
n Through Open Market Sales (OMS), 60 per cent poor can buy rice at reduced prices, when prices get too high in the market.      
n The collaboration of government and NGOs in the field of social protection is praiseworthy, where government provides policy and guidelines and NGOs implement those.
n Introduction and dissemination of stress-tolerant crop varieties and seeds, afforestation, installation of solar panels, etc. under the Climate Change Trust Fund are good examples.
CHALLENGES IN SOCIAL PROTECTION: Promoting human resources, reducing poverty and inequality would be the prime thrust of the streamlined social security system. The main challenges for Social Security would be:  
n To address the inclusion and exclusion errors. Preparation of Bangladesh Household Database within the stipulated time.   
n Capacity development of the government officials to be involved in the implementation of NSSS.
n Development of a nationwide complaints and grievance redressing mechanism.     
Professor Dr Shamsul Alam is Member (Senior Secretary), General Economics Division, Bangladesh Planning Commission, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, presented this paper at the Working Session  of the Asia-Pacific Social Protection (APSP) week  held on 01-05 August 2016, at the Asian
Development Bank Headquarters.
shamsul alam [email protected]